


puppy love (the johnny POVs)

by sebastian2017



Series: fiery dispositions and tangled webs [1]
Category: Fantastic Four, Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: Crushes, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, High School, M/M, Sibling Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-17
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:14:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26503462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sebastian2017/pseuds/sebastian2017
Summary: A few scenes from 'must be fireproof' from Johnny's point of view!The story of how Johnny's schoolboy crush on classmate Peter Parker leads to an awful lot of bonding with his sister and more secrets than he thought a nerdy science kid could have.
Relationships: Peter Parker/Johnny Storm
Series: fiery dispositions and tangled webs [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1926859
Comments: 25
Kudos: 148





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> As promised, a few excerpts of must be fireproof (and missing scenes) from Johnny's point of view! first up we have Johnny getting paired up with Peter for their project
> 
> CW: food

Logically, Johnny knows that he's kind of a big deal now. You can't go into space illegally, get superpowers, and start up an intergalactic superhero team without becoming a big deal. Plus, he's young and conventionally handsome. The press tends to go a little wild over him. Johnny knows all of that. It's hard not to when he so often finds tabloids with his face printed all over them. And despite all of that, he still has a hard time wrapping his head around it. 

In Johnny's head, he's still just some stupid kid who got in way over his head with his brother in law's science project. A stupid kid that has way more power than anyone should and spends every waking second trying to keep it in check, but still a stupid kid. The rest of the world, though, doesn't really see it that way, do they? 

Johnny knows that, but it still feels weird to him when he's confronted with the reality of just how weird his life really is. Like moving to a new school halfway through high school and rising to the top of popularity without any effort at all. It doesn't make much sense to him. He's in as many advanced courses as his schedule can fit, he doesn't play any sports, and he's constantly bailing on plans because of Fantastic Four things. Logically, he should be as close to the bottom of the totem pole as possible. But no, of course not. He's Johnny Storm. He can set himself on fire and he regularly gets his ass kicked by aliens. Apparently, that means that everyone has no choice but to love him. 

Johnny knows how stuck up he must sound complaining about something like this. He has good grades, a generous allowance courtesy of Reed, plenty of friends, and the sort of exciting extracurriculars people usually daydream about. But none of it is as fun as Johnny thought it would be before getting into this mess. All it's really good for is making it so he never really knows who actually likes him. 

Are his lab partners working with him because they like him or because they're hoping to get closer to Reed? Do the kids who sit with him at lunch actually care about how his day is going or are they trying to get a Fantastic Four exclusive to sell to the press? Do any of the many girls throwing themselves at him actually think he's worth dating or do they just want to be able to say they dated  _ the  _ Johnny Storm? 

Again, Johnny knows exactly how stuck up he must sound complaining about these things and truth be told, if he could go back he would do it all over again, he just wishes it had come with a disclaimer about how truly frustrating fame really is. It doesn't even work in his favor the few times he wants to exploit it. 

Case in point, the quiet nerd in his history class who hates his guts. Peter Parker. They've never really had a conversation before and the cool thing for Johnny to do would be to pretend he doesn't even know who he is, but that would take a level of lying that even he can't pull off. He definitely knows Peter's name. Just like he knows that he's top of his class in every science course he takes, that he's currently battling with his ex-girlfriend and best friend Gwen Stacy for valedictorian next year, and that he has a photography hobby. (Johnny will maintain that it's not creepy for him to know those things, because he hasn't gone out of his way to find out. He's just observant.)

At this point, he's not sure if he liked Peter from first glance and was thrown headfirst into infatuation by the way Peter refuses to give Johnny any special treatment or if Peter had ignored him first and Johnny's crush had grown as a result. He considers it pretty irrelevant by this point. However it had started, there's really no denying that Johnny's fallen head over heels for the one person at this whole school who couldn't care less about Johnny's celebrity status. 

History is usually Johnny's least favorite class, but sharing it with Peter has definitely brought it up in Johnny's ranking. He gets to spend most of class sneaking glances at Peter, after all. Every once in a while, he'll make accidental eye contact with Peter, which almost always ends with Peter glaring at him, but it's fine. That's part of the reason he's so smitten, after all. He just keeps staring every chance he gets, letting himself get lost in stupid day dreams of teenage romance with Peter instead of feeling constantly overcome with the pressures of teenage superheroism. He's so distracted by it all, that he almost misses Hudley's announcement of who he'll be paired with. 

He hears his name called after Peter's like something out of a dream. It snaps him out of his thoughts and he's half convinced that he's imagining it, because how absolutely perfect would that be? Peter is glaring down at his desk when he looks over and Johnny realizes that nope, not fantasy. They've definitely been paired together and Peter looks like he would rather fail the whole project than be his partner. Meanwhile, Johnny's just counting his blessings because seriously, he couldn't have planned this better himself. 

***

Johnny should probably pay attention in class today and start taking notes to help with their project, but instead, he spends all of it doodling in his notebook. There's stupid things, like little matchsticks or smiley faces or crude sketches of the flying cars Reed's been working on, but also horribly embarrassing drawings. A scribble of the back of Peter's head, lots of little hearts, that sort of thing. Johnny's definitely going to burn this page later, but for now, it keeps him entertained while he thinks up all the ways he's going to wow Peter while they work together. It's going to be great. 

When the bell rings, Peter zooms out of the classroom in a hurry and Johnny has to throw everything in his backpack and sidestep several classmates to reach him before he disappears. Johnny's definitely going to have his work cut out for him in trying to win Peter over, but it's fine. It's why he likes him, after all. 

"Hey!" he calls out, jogging to catch up to Peter. "I don't have your phone number and we're not friends anywhere online, so... unless you have secret telepathic abilities I don't know about, I kinda need to exchange numbers with you."

"Right. Sorry, must have slipped my mind," Peter apologizes. They both know that's definitely not what happened, but Johnny doesn't call him out on it. He just puts his contact info down in Peter's phone and pushes down the thrill of finally having a good excuse to actually talk to him. 

"Cool. I've got to do training with the team a couple times a week, so my schedule's a little weird, but I'll try to get everything down in a Google Calendar and share it with you, so we can meet around that," Johnny offers. He passes him his phone back and offers up a grin, the most charming one he can manage.

Peter remains unimpressed. "Fine. See you around, Storm."

Logically, Johnny knows he's no closer to charming Peter than he was when this all started, but he still grins to himself like an idiot as he watches him go. This is great. This is a way better week than he originally envisioned himself having. 

***

When Johnny gets back home, he feels like he's walking on sunshine. He goes straight to the kitchen to make himself a PB&J until dinner (a superhero appetite is no joke) and hums to himself while he does it. He even shimmies his hips a little while he gets everything. He knows he looks ridiculous, but he's in a good mood! 

It's clearly obvious from a mile away because Sue looks at him oddly when she pops into the kitchen to refill her water bottle. Johnny grins brightly and offers her a corner of his sandwich. She just wrinkles her nose in distaste at it and grabs his cup off the counter to sniff at. Probably making sure he hasn't been hitting up Ben's liquor cabinet and  _ that's  _ why he's acting strange. 

"It's not alcohol, Susie. It's  _ looove _ ," Johnny explains. He's joking around, of course, but also, there's definitely a large part of him that wants to sigh dreamily and go back to doodling about Peter in his notebook. 

"Right." Sue keeps on frowning. "Any news you'd like to share?" 

"Well... No, not really," he admits. "Not  _ yet _ . But you know that kid from school I've told you about a few times? Peter? We got paired together for a project!" 

Sue's frown only deepens. "Isn't Peter the one who hates you?" 

"Yes!" Johnny nods eagerly. "That's why I like him." 

"Right." Sue nods slowly and grabs her water bottle again so she can leave the kitchen. "You're a deeply weird child, Johnny. Don't do anything stupid, okay?" 

"No promises!" 

Because, after all, he just got the world's most convenient excuse to get closer to his crush. He's pretty much living on top of the world right now. Johnny's about to make all of the bad teenage choices he can possibly make. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this whole series makes me so soft about johnny and sue's relationship,,,,, hope y'all enjoy! 
> 
> cw: food

Johnny is in absolute emergency lockdown mode. He's putting just about as much thought, effort, and planning into this as the team does for all the missions that take them off planet. He's not ashamed to admit it. He's very serious about this whole thing. In his defense, he thinks anyone would be serious in his shoes. I mean, have they seen Peter Parker?

His biggest obstacle right now and the first point on all of his plans is the fact that Peter pretty clearly hates him. 

No big deal. Johnny's had to fight off threats to the entire universe. One high schooler not liking him is nothing compared to all of that. Sure, it feels much worse and kind of punches him in the gut with far more intensity than Galactus ever could, but he's Johnny Storm. He's not afraid of any of these things... right? 

God, he's a mess. According to just about every tabloid in the country, he's a ruthless womanizer who can get any girl he wants with nothing but a glance and a few clever words. In reality, he'd had a few girlfriends before coming to terms with himself, sure, but they'd either gotten with him because they felt bad for the awkward orphan in shop class (before The Incident) or because he was the one and only Johnny Storm (after The Incident.) He wishes he was as smooth and confident as all the tabloids claim. It would definitely make things much easier than the truth, which is that he just sort of always feels out of place, hopes for the best, and that he has no idea where to start on getting a guy who doesn't even think he's all that impressive for being a superhero. 

This is definitely the sort of thing that warrants calling in the big guns. Technically, they're not supposed to have any team meetings with meals, but Johnny feels better about his chances of not getting yelled at there instead of calling an actual official meeting. He orders pizza for everybody (on the Fantastic Four credit card, sure, but it's the thought that counts, right?) and calls them into the living room. Fresh pizza is one of the few things that gets everyone in one place without much complaining or procrastination. 

They all eye him suspiciously while getting their slices, sure, but they're sitting down in one place, which is all Johnny really needs. Besides, he can't really be mad at their suspicion when they're right, can he? Because as soon as everyone is cozy with their pizza, Johnny turns the television on to the powerpoint he'd loaded up onto it beforehand and stands up, hoping he looks as official as he's trying to be. 

"I bet you're wondering why I've gathered you all here today," Johnny starts, pulling a laser pointer out from where he'd stashed it behind the television. 

"I wasn't actually. Was just hoping it was for the pizza," Ben grumbles. He tugs a pizza box closer to himself and Johnny goes ahead and pushes a second one close, too, because he has a feeling Ben's going to need it. 

"That was the bait." Johnny shrugs. He clicks away from the opening slide (an introduction that is just a grinning selfie of himself with the words 'hello, minions') onto the one that finally gets into the very important topic at hand:  _ How to land Peter Parker.  _ "As you all know, I'm in a traditional high school setting, where we do traditional high school things like group projects. Normally it's all fine and I'm a big fan of doing normal teenage things and the like. However, in a trope right out of a Disney Channel romcom, I have been paired with Peter Parker. Also known as the classmate that I am hopelessly in love with." 

"Love?" Ben exclaims. He lets out a horrified huff and pulls the second pizza box closer so he can pull the whole pie out, fold it in two, and eat it like one giant slice. Johnny's seen worse by now. "I've never even heard you mention this kid before. You have a crush, kid. Not love." 

"To be fair, a crush and love are both just a series of chemical reactions," Reed points out. "We just add more weight to one word for it over the other. So, who knows, Johnny very well might be in love." 

Sue gives Reed a disapproving look at that choice of words, so Johnny decides to just hop in and keep talking before things can get messy between them. "Well, I'm talking about him now, Ben. He's pretty quiet, but he's really cool and super smart and he's really into science and photography and whatever. Also, though, he kind of hates me. I'm sure you see the problem.  _ Buuut  _ I was hoping that this project will be the perfect excuse for him to get to know me a little more and realize that he totally doesn't need to hate me!" 

"You think him meeting you will make him hate you less?" Ben snorts out a laugh. "Keep dreamin', Johnny." 

Johnny pouts a little and he would probably throw a flame ball at him if he wasn't sitting so close to Sue. "Mean! I'm a great guy and anyone would be lucky to have me. Right, Sue?" 

Sue sighs, but manages to smile at him. "That's right. Although I am a little unsure about some of the finer points of this plan. Are you just hoping that being in your presence will enlighten him?" 

"Well. Yes and no. See, I think the reason he dislikes me is because I'm in the Fantastic Four and he thinks it's obnoxious," Johnny explains. He clicks to the next slide, a team picture of all of them smiling for the paper right next to a selfie from last weekend of an exhausted Sunday brunch with all of them in their pajamas and bedhead huddled around the coffee table. "So since we're going to have to work together, I think it'll be the perfect opportunity for him to see the real me and realize I'm not how the press always portrays me. But for that, I'm going to need some teamwork from all of us."

"To get this kid to like you? You're gonna need more than teamwork, you're gonna need a miracle!" Ben declares. 

Sue shushes him, even though Ben and Johnny's rivalry is well established by now. "So what sort of rules did you have in mind?" 

"Well, for starters, we absolutely cannot all four of us be in the same room as him at any point. We'll scare him away. And also, you three are weirdos." Johnny forwards to the next slide, where he wrote those exact same things down on the official list of rules. "Also, it would really help if when you see him - individually and not as a collective team, I can't stress that enough - you hype me up and tell him how awesome I am and how I'm actually really down to earth and not stuck up like the papers make me seem."

"Johnny, sweetie, I love how much effort you're putting into all this, but I'm not entirely sure that we're going about this the right way," Sue says gently. She gets up to turn the slideshow off and ushers Johnny over to sit down and actually eat his pizza. "How about for now we just have a nice dinner together and then later, I'll give you some tips from my own high school dating days. How's that sound?"

Johnny wants to complain, because he put a lot of work into that powerpoint and seriously, if he doesn't establish boundaries with the team from the get go, they'll embarrass him in front of Peter. But the pizza on the coffee table really is horrifically tempting and he can always just force the presentation on them at another point, right? Ugh, damn his sister and her ways of always managing to tempt him in the most effective ways possible. 

"Fine," he grumbles. "But I'm not gonna forget, so don't think I will." 

"You're not just a Storm, but a Storm that's spent quite a few formative years around Reed.. Trust me, I know that you won't let this go. I'm just trying to make sure all that energy is going to the right place," Sue reassures him. 

Reed seems to take some offence to that, even though Johnny very clearly sees where Sue is coming from. It's entertaining enough to keep him pleased after getting his powerpoint interrupted, so he decides to just let it happen while he munches on his pizza. He's still positive the team would scare Peter away, but for someone anesthetized to them like he is, it's mostly just free entertainment. 

***

Once all the pizza's been eaten and the living room is clean again, Johnny goes back to his own bedroom suite with Sue in tow. He has a very,  _ very  _ nice set up for his bedroom. To start with, it's huge. It takes up one of the corners of the building floor designated as their living area and is probably as big as some people's apartments. His bedroom is sectioned off with another door, it's own separate room with an adjoined bathroom in the suite, and in the area between the entrance and his bedroom there's practically a whole sitting room and a kitchenette. Naturally, he uses the sitting room for his streaming and gaming setup, while the mini fridge and microwave are lifesavers on lazy late nights of studying or gaming. 

He's had Reed explain the branding, merchandise, and consulting money that's coming in before, but Johnny's brain still can't comprehend such large numbers. Not when he still remembers perfectly well sharing with Sue in cramped quarters and her struggling to make ends meet for the both of them. He might be the very definition of New York's young and rich these days, but he'd like to think he hasn't forgotten where he comes from. Or the manners that he'd learned back then.

When Sue sits down on his futon, Johnny offers her something to drink. The mini fridge is mostly just stocked with sodas and sports drinks, but it's the thought that counts. He settles down across from her and as tempted as he is to take notes of her advice, he decides to just lean in close and pay attention. 

"So... Wooing Peter. How am I going to go about it?" he asks.

"For starters," Sue chuckles, "you should probably come to terms with the fact that there's no one right answer or foolproof method for all of this. You like Peter because he's different from other kids, right? And the things that make him unique are what makes him attractive? Well, just like it's the differences that count there, when it comes to wooing someone, everyone is different." 

"Well... Yeah." Johnny sighs. "I know that. And I'm working on it, I swear. Now that we're working on this project, I'll get to know him better and hopefully some amazing idea will just pop into my he'd. But until then... Well, isn't there some catch all advice you can give me? Because to be honest, I'm not feeling so hot about... well, the romance bit in general." 

Sue shakes her head fondly. "Oh, Johnny. I know that maybe all those tabloids about you being some sort of lady killer are getting to you, but the truth of it is no one's really so sure about any of that. We just have to figure it out as we go. Part of what's so nice about love is finding someone that you can be comfortable around while you both try to figure the world out." 

"So what you're saying is... I should just try my best and kind of hope that Peter is as hopeless at this as me?" Johnny guesses.

"What I'm saying is that no one's really an expert and that it's perfectly normal to feel out of your depth here. You're just going to have to be willing to lean into that uncertainty while you get to know him and know that while you're never going to feel entirely prepared, there's going to come a point where you feel ready to make that jump and ask him out," Sue explains. "I'm just going to be around to make sure you don't do anything too silly." 

"Well... Not exactly the clear cut answers I was hoping for, but thanks, Sue. You're kind of the best, y'know? Wanna play Madden with me now that we're done talking about gross feelings?" 

"Maybe after you do your homework." 

"Ugh. Fine, Mom." 

And he means it as a joke, of course, but really, he couldn't be more grateful to have a big sister like Sue who'd stepped up to the plate in so many ways. Sometimes he feels like the luckiest boy in New York, despite everything. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> totally didn't mean to go two weeks without updating, especially since this was written already! sorry about that y'all as I've said before, I lose track way too easily. the fourth chapter of this should be up soon (this weekend, hopefully!) and then the last chapter of Must Be Fireproof will be up shortly after that!

Johnny should really start to institute a 48 hour wait policy between having an idea and actually doing it. Because sure, a lot of things seem like a good idea in the moment and they might even still seem great when he does it, but give him about eight or ten hours after his idea's been done and horrific regret i bound to hit him like a truck. 

Wonderful example: inviting Peter to the team's seder was an awesome idea when he was having a brief existential crisis mid battle. It still seemed like a wonderful idea when actually asking Peter and he'd ridden that high for a few hours after asking, excited about the possibilities of getting to spend more time with Peter outside of the context of school and projects. 

But now here he is, five minutes past 10pm while he stress eats through a bag of Doritos, wondering what he's done. Because now Peter's going to be here when the place is full of heroes and his family at their rowdiest and without even the excuse of school work to keep up some small talk between them when things get awkward. So many things could go wrong. Johnny could say the wrong thing or Reed could scare him away or maybe Peter is finally going to realize that Johnny isn't the popular dick he thinks he is, but only because in reality he's just a dork. 

None of those alternatives are good and they all end up with him in a worse position than when he started trying to get things going with Peter. 

Obviously, he does the only thing he can think of doing in these situations. He picks himself up and goes to find Sue so he can mope. He's eternally grateful that he's the baby sibling between them, because he absolutely would never be able to be the role model and emotional support that Sue is for him. If a younger sibling ever showed up in his bedroom and threw themself dramatically across the bed, he would kick them out in a heartbeat. Sue just sighs, closes her book, and flicks on the bedside lamp instead of just having her reading light on. 

"You know, you complain any time you walk in on me and Reed doing anything other than holding hands, but then you do things like this. I don't understand you, Johnny." Sue shakes her head fondly. 

Johnny just makes a disgusted noise at the reminder that his sister gets up to things like  _ that _ . "To be fair, I double checked that Reed was in his lab before coming here. Not the point, though. I'm having an emotional crisis and need your help." 

Sue laughs. "When  _ aren't  _ you having an emotional crisis, Johnny? Go on, then. What's wrong? Is it about Peter?" 

"Of course it's about, Peter," he agrees, because there's no point in denying it. "You know I invited him to the seder today, right? Because it seemed like a great idea." 

She nods. "Of course. Don't tell me you're regretting it already." 

"...Maybe," he admits. "It's just... Think of everything that could go  _ wrong!  _ I'm trying to get him to like me and this could very well be what ends up convincing him that I'm not the sort of person he wants to be around. Or worse, I could be totally fine, but someone else could scare him away. We kind of invite a bunch of people to these things and superheroes aren't exactly a normal bunch. Peter doesn't even get all starstruck around them like other people, so that wouldn't even help." 

"Johnny... I wish I could give you the kind of advice I know you came here looking, but the truth is, there's not much you can do about any of that. If you really like Peter, it's not like you can just keep hiding away from him because  _ something  _ might go wrong. You'll never get anywhere that way! Or who knows, you might get closer and realize you're not as compatible as you thought you'd be. But if just having him around and being yourself or being around the people in your life is enough to scare him away... then he's not the one for you." Sue sighs a little and wraps her arms around Johnny's shoulder soothingly. "There isn't a formula to any of this. Not even Reed could figure that out. You just have to take a risk sometimes." 

"Figures... The one time in my life I  _ don't  _ want to be reckless and I have no choice." Johnny nods and gets back up off the bed. "Sorry for bursting in here, Susie. I just... Peter's really got me twisted up in knots, y'know?" 

"That's usually a good sign. And you know I'm always here to help you through your teenage moments of crisis. But as much as I love you, knock next time. For both our sakes." 

"Yeah, yeah. I'll think about it. Love you, too!" 

***

Johnny tries to remind himself of his conversation with Susan every time he starts to panic about Peter coming over. Which is often in the lead up to the seder. It's kind of amazing how much he can psyche himself out of anything. If only he really was as effortlessly confident as everyone seems to think. But admitting that Johnny Storm is as insecure as any teenage boy probably wouldn't sell as many tabloids. 

The day of the actual event, he actually thinks he might get away relatively pain free through the whole thing. There haven't been any big disasters during setup, no supervillains have threatened the event, he looks pretty good in his outfit, and Ben even tutored him a little bit about all the evening's events so he looks well prepared around Peter. There's just one thing that Johnny had - rather stupidly - not planned for. 

Paparazzi. 

The absolute bane of his existence since becoming a public figure. He'd sort of hoped they wouldn't try anything today after how badly they'd been told off by Reed last year for interrupting a religious event, but clearly, the paychecks from forming an impromptu red carpet at the entrance of the Baxter Building is enough to throw morality to the wind. Because sure enough, right like clockwork, there's a crowd of them gathered around the entrance, snapping pictures of everyone walking in and barking out every invasive question they can think of, it seems. 

Johnny stares at them on the security feeds currently playing on the living room television and gets paler with every passing second. He can't just invite Peter to something like this, give him no warning, and expect him to walk through a sea of vicious paps. And there's only... Johnny checks his watch and sees that it's only about fifteen minutes until when he told Peter to get here. Definitely not enough of a heads up. He didn't think it was possible to like someone so much he'd get nauseous at the thought of disappointing them, but here he is. 

"This is so fucked up," Johnny mumbles. 

"Language," Sue scolds halfheartedly. "It's not great. But it's not the end of the world! Just meet him at the corner and bring him up the back entrance. I think you're letting your crush banish all sensible thought from your brain." 

"That's... Probably true. I don't know why I didn't think of it," Johnny says, frowning as he goes to fetch a hoodie so he can cover his face while he sneaks out. 

"You didn't think of it because you're a teenager in love, easily the most nonsensical age of all." 

"Not in love! Just a totally normal crush." 

Even though with Johnny's habits of throwing himself headfirst into everything, a case of puppy love crush for him is probably equivalent to a lot more for other people. But he doesn't really want to think about that right now. Right now he's just going to save Peter from the paps and hope that that'll be the only bump in the rod in this entire plan to invite Peter over. 

***

Like most times when Johnny panics at the drop of a hat, nothing is really as bad as he thought it would be once it actually gets underway. The seder is fine. It runs a little long with half the city's superheroes trying to get a chance to talk, but the food is catered from the best place in town and Peter looks like he's having a good time. Despite Johnny's best efforts, he gets lost every once in a while, but Peter seems more amused by it than think him uncultured or something. It's a good evening. Johnny's been riding the high of it long enough that he even pulls together enough bravery to bring Peter up to the planetarium. 

This is undoubtedly the most romantic way the night could have ended and if he weren't tipsy, he would have definitely chickened out by now. But he's comfortably warm all over, floating along on the buzz, and feeling maybe not unstoppable, but certainly far more open to vulnerability than he normally would. He can't even say what came over to him to convince him that telling Peter about his old crush on Spider-Man was a good idea, but here they are. 

"You're a really weird guy, Johnny. You know that?" Peter asks, laughing under his breath. 

Johnny never thought he'd be at a point in life where being called weird by someone sent his stomach into flip flops, but here he is. "Eh. I've been told before."

"Yeah... You know how we're friendly rivals, Johnny?" Peter's hand feels heavier than ever in Johnny's. 

"Kinda hard to forget." He smiles when he says it, hoping that he can just play this whole thing off as a silly joke that he's absolutely not invested in if things go awry. His heart is beating so loud he's sure Peter must be able to hear it, but he keeps smiling like nothing is amiss and hopefully Peter won't pick up on it either. 

"Well... Yeah, I guess. So. Don't get sappy or me 'cause we've been drinking or whatever," Peter warns, "but... Maybe you and I can just be... friends. Like regular friends, y'know?" 

Johnny's heart no longer feels like it might explode from anxiety. Now it's definitely going to explode from sheer excitement. He's pretty sure this is exactly what his sister means when she accuses him of being entrenched deep, deep in puppy love. He doesn't even know what to do with himself, so he just squeezes Peter's hand and grins so wide his cheeks ache. In the absolute understatement of the year, he says, "I'd like that a lot, Peter." 

They both quiet down after that, just relishing in the silence and in leaning up against one another as they admire the stars on the ceiling. Johnny's almost afraid to breathe too loud and ruin this moment. If they were in some teenage romance or something, this would be the scene where he finally kisses him. Johnny knows that and he knows that if there was ever a time to take a leap and tell Peter his feelings, it's right now. There couldn't possibly be a better ambiance than this. 

But Johnny can't bring himself to potentially ruin it all with that, so he's simply content to lay there for a while, staring at Peter when Peter's eyes are closed or when he looks away. And somehow even just that is enough to keep his heart fluttering and overwhelmed with fondness. He'll keep telling himself and Sue that it's just a fun little crush like any other teenager, but he can tell from how deeply he's feeling tonight that he's in for trouble one way or another. But while he's busy losing himself in the edges of Peter's jaw or the soft lights bouncing off his curls... Johnny's pretty sure he's willing to risk it all for this. Just not right now. Right now, he's going to let himself simply lay here and enjoy every second of it. 

***

He's exhausted and still sleepy from when Sue woke them, but Johnny can't sleep. He's too busy thinking about Peter. he feels like a bit of an idiot, worrying and overthinking over something as simple as Peter wanting to sleep in the guest room, particularly since it's not like Johnny had made a move or done anything at all to suggest they should have stayed in the same room together. Still, knowing that he's not exactly being rational has never been a handy tool to get him to stop. It just makes him overthink more. 

Johnny's lying awake, staring at the ceiling and thinking too much about Peter when Sue walks in. He's not too surprised by that. Even less so at the way she smirks at him and sits at the edge of the bed, clearly waiting for Johnny to give her an update or some juicy gossip. He keeps her waiting, though, feigning ignorance as to why she'd come into his bedroom so late after already saying good night to him.

"Don't be like that," she complains playfully. "Tell me everything! You two certainly looked cozy together when Reed and I walked in." 

"Nothing happened," Johnny says quickly, before she can get full of ideas and make up her own reality in her head. "We're just friends. But... I mean, he said we were actually friends instead of pretending we're enemies like he always does and we talked and got pretty close and... It was really nice, Sue. I know that's probably not as exciting as you were hoping to hear, but it's true. It was nice. I just like spending time with him."

Sue smiles at him and nods knowingly. "Sounds like you're pretty serious about him. And I think he's pretty serious about you, too. He certainly looked comfortable when we walked in and I know you can be a little clueless sometimes, Johnny, so I'll spell it out for you: no one just spends a night ignoring a party to cuddle up with a friend if they don't feel  _ something. _ " 

"Sure. Whatever you say, Susie. Just... don't make things weird tomorrow morning, okay? And  _ please  _ tell Ben not to make things weird either. It's not too late for him to get scared off," Johnny reminds her. 

"I keep saying, if he was going to be scared off, he'd be gone by now. But all right. Sleep well, Romeo." 

Johnny halfheartedly protests that, but he's getting dangerously close to feeling hopeful about the whole situation. He falls asleep thinking about Peter and Peter's hand in his and Peter's head on his shoulder. It's the best night he's had in a while. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw: blood

The word love terrifies Johnny. He might know he feels it and he's more than happy to be in it with Peter, but to actually admit it? Say it out loud to even himself? Absolutely horrifying. Love is the sort of thing that can destroy people. He knows that. He's seen villains try to tear the world apart over it and he sees how even the most powerful, smartest people he knows, like Reed, can be brought to their knees by it. Love is so powerful, he's probably more scared of that than anyone the team has ever faced off again. 

But he can't lie to himself any longer. He's in love with Peter. Hopelessly so. There's no other way to put it. He'd been doing a good job ignoring it, but the worst of situations have a way of bringing things like this to light. And there's no other way to describe how he feels when he goes out to investigate all the comotion on Twitter about the Green Goblin and finds Peter half dead on top of a bridge. It's love in the most painful, messy way, but it's definitely love. 

Just a crush or some other casual thing wouldn't make him feel like his heart's been ripped out when he lands at the top of that bridge and finds Peter passed out and bleeding on top of one of the platforms. His brain is working overtime, trying to make sense of what it means to find Peter in a torn up Spider-Man uniform, all the things that confirms, but it all seems unimportant compared to the knowledge that Peter is in danger. 

The Green Goblin is already passed out a few feet away, seemingly from an impact wound, and he's lucky he is or Johnny would probably be tearing him apart limb from limb right now. He's pretty sure he's crying or screaming or otherwise making some pretty ungodly noises, but he can barely hear it over how his heart is beating in his ears, a million miles an hour and more nervous than he ever thought possible. He can't lose Peter. He can't. 

When he picks Peter up in his arms to take him back to Reed for medical attention, Peter lets out a pained groan. His eyes are open, but clearly not processing anything he's seeing and Johnny just wants to cry. He wishes his powers were healing instead of lighting things on fire. That would probably be more useful for something like this. 

He's sure the flight won't be very comfortable on Peter's wounds, but when he thinks it all through, it's definitely far worse to be bleeding out on a roof, so he cradles Peter's body close and flies back to Baxter Building as fast as he possibly can. He hears the tell tale booms in his wake that tell him he's broken the sound barrier - something the city of New York has explicitly told him to stop and threatened to fine the team over - but he doesn't care. Peter needs medical attention and probably the only person in the world that can give it to him is Reed. Johnny's going to get him there as soon as possible. Fuck the city and its noise regulations. He comes bursting in through the flight entrance up top, already yelling Reed's name at the top of his lungs. 

Reed runs into the medical bay just as Johnny's stumbling inside with Peter's body. For all that Johnny might tease Reed for being the family nerd, he's excellent in a crisis like this. He barely even flinches before steering Johnny over to one of the treatment beds and helping him put Peter down on it. Once Peter's out of his arms, Johnny can see how badly he's trembling. He can also see the way that his uniform is stained bright red now, covered in Peter's blood. 

Since the first flight when all of this started, Johnny's had a strong stomach. Even crash landing back on Earth and immediately bursting into flames hadn't managed to rattle him. Seeing Reed stretch to unnatural proportions or his sister disappear or Ben's rocky transformation didn't shake him. But Peter's blood seeping into his clothes and staining his hands? Johnny feels like he might throw up. 

"Go get Sue, tell her to come here, and lend me a hand," Reed instructs. He's not even looking in Johnny's direction, already busy with tending to Peter's wounds. "Then go wash up and go to your room. I'll keep you updated on Peter's condition." 

Johnny sputters, aghast. "Go to my room? You can't just send me away, Reed! I can help. I have to help." 

"Johnny. It wasn't a request. I'm going to take a wild guess and say hospitals are off limits right now, which means we can't afford any mistakes. You have far too much of an emotional connection," Reed insists. "The best thing for Peter is that he has people with a clear head looking after him. Now go get your sister."

As much as he hates to admit it and as much as he resents getting scolded by Reed like that, he knows that Reed's right. So he nods and hurries away to find Sue. She panics as soon as she sees him, which Johnny's panic only feeds on, but as soon as he he chokes out the words Peter and Spider-Man, she runs over to the medical bay to help. That just leaves Johnny standing in the middle of their living room, trying very hard not to cry and hating himself for it. 

He would probably still be there, a few seconds away from a complete and total breakdown, if Ben weren't around to usher him back to his bedroom and help him change out of his bloodied uniform. It's all a bit of a blur and Johnny mostly feels like he blinked and somehow ended up laying in his bed with some fresh clothes. It's a reminder of how invaluable having the team as a family has become for him. 

He feels like he's teetering on the edge, still, but it's doubtlessly easier to handle when Ben comes in a few hours later with tea and a packet of Oreos to let him know that Peter's been stabilized and is sleeping now. Normally, Johnny would love the chance to tease him for how awkwardly he has to carry the mug, but right now, he's too preoccupied with worry for Peter. 

"Stretcho said he'll come get you in a few so you can go upstairs to see Peter," Ben tells him. "You okay, kid? Looks like you haven't moved since I left you up here." 

Johnny shrugs and holds the mug close against his body to feel its warmth. It doesn't do much, considering how his body processes heat, but it feels nostalgic and that's enough for tonight. "Probably 'cause I haven't. What am I supposed to do? Watch TV? Scroll through my phone? I wouldn't be able to focus on anything other than thinking about Peter anyway. It's... So much, you know? My boyfriend has secretly been Spider-Man all along and he almost bled out in my arms. I feel like I'm going insane." 

"Yeah Sounds like it'd be a bunch for anyone to deal with in one go, especially someone with a brain as tiny as yours," Ben agrees. Johnny can tell he only adds the halfhearted insult because it's pretty much tradition between the two of them, so he doesn't take it personally. He just tries to chuckle, even if nothing about today feels very amusing. "Reed'll take care of him better than anyone else in this whole town ever could. He'll be all right. Then you can rail on him about lying to you 'bout Spider-Man." 

Johnny nods and gathers up every last shred of energy in him to go back upstairs and check up on Peter while he sleeps. When he gets there, he's hooked up to an IV and half a dozen machines keeping track of his vitals. It makes Johnny's heart skip a beat, but he just focuses in on the steady beeps of his heart beating and reminds himself that Peter's in good hands now with Reed and he'll pull through. 

Stuffed in a corner is the torn and bloody Spider-Man suit. Johnny's heart is basically doing cartwheels when he sees it, trying to make sense of it a.. On one hand, the signs were there all along weren't they? He'd known that Peter was hiding something, but he'd tried not to think about it too long because Peter would tell him when he was ready. And of course he'd started to see some of the coincidences between Peter and Spidey's lives, but he'd never really stopped to think about it for too long. Because who ever really stops and considers something as outrageous as your scrawny, nerdy boyfriend secretly being Spider-Man? 

"You're going to be the death of me, Peter," Johnny mumbles. He settles down in the chair next to him and holds one of his hands. "How am I ever supposed to sleep again knowing that my boyfriend is swinging around every night and risking his life?"

Reed's voice comes up from behind him. "Probably the same way he's been doing it until now. He's doing well. I know it doesn't necessarily look that way right now, but he seems to have some sort of accelerated healing factor. It's good that you brought him here as quickly as he did. He should make a full recovery with some time."

"Good. I don't know what I would have done if he... hadn't been okay. I would have had to do some unspeakable things to the Green Goblin." Which reminds him... "Shit. I may or may not have left the Green Goblin passed out on the bridge." 

"It's all right. the authorities have apprehended him. It was pretty obvious you weren't exactly thinking everything through when you came in this morning. Sue and I made sure to make the right calls," Reed assures him. 

"Oh good." Johnny relaxes into his chair again. "I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't have just gone out on my own like that or left a villain there like that, but Twitter was blowing up with sightings of Spidey getting beat up pretty bad and I just... I wasn't thinking. I was just so worried." 

"All's well that ends well, Johnny. Let's just not try it again, all right? I don't think any of us want to take any chances that next time will end just as well, right?" Reed pats him on the shoulder. 

Johnny nods. "It won't happen again, I promise. Besides, I've got a new crime fighting partner to watch my back. I hear Spidey's about as good at getting into trouble as me. It'll cancel out with us both, right?" 

"...I think the rest of the city should start bracing itself now. I'll be in my lab. The intercom's set up if you need anything. Don't forget to get some rest as well." 

"Uh huh." 

They both know Johnny's not going to be able to leave Peter's side. 

***

It's absolutely just Johnny's type of luck that despite spending hours refusing to leave Peter's bed, he's coaxed away only twenty or so minutes before he actually wakes. In his defense, it was Mrs. Parker who finally convinced him to leave and have a proper meal and how could Johnny fight it too much when she's the only person here who probably feels even worse about all of this than him? 

Logically, he knows Peter won't be mad that Johnny stepped away from his bedside, but he still feels like the worst boyfriend in the world. Though hopefully realizing that Peter is about to expose his secret identity and jumping in just before to stop him will earn him a few points once everything settles down again. 

"It's okay, Peter. We explained to your aunt while you were sleeping," he promises, trying to make eye contact with him as though that could convey all the things that still need to be said to clear the air. 

Thankfully Reed catches on and gives them the perfect escape so they can get upstairs and have some privacy before the situation goes from bad to worse. When he found Peter on that rooftop, Johnny's mind raced with a million questions and things to say about the Spider-Man thing, but now that Peter's awake and actually able to answer any of them, his mind has traitorously decided to just blank out on all of it and act as though he's never had a single thought in his entire existence. Not really surprising. 

But probably for the best, because Peter is freaked out enough without Johnny saying anything. Selfishly, he's almost glad that Peter is freaking out so much. It makes it a lot easier for Johnny's overprotective brain to take over and focus in on helping Peter to calm down, instead of worrying about all the details of what this new reveal will mean for them and for the work they do. He gets to focus, instead, on calming Peter down and he even gets to make some bad joke about his old crush on Spider-Man. It's far easier than dealing with all the actual implications of all this. 

If Johnny closes his eyes while they're cuddled up on his hospital bed, it almost feels like they're just hanging out together after one of the long summer days, talking about what they're looking forward to in senior year or about how much of a dick Peter's boss is. He just has to keep his eyes closed to keep the ruse up in his own brain. Not see how pale Peter still is from the blood loss and not see the closed closet door behind which Johnny knows the bloody Spidey suit is hanging up and not see the scars littered through Peter's body that he knows now came from long nights keeping the city and all its inhabitants safer than Johnny and the team ever could. 

He must be quiet for too long, putting too much effort into convincing himself of his little ruse, because Peter reaches up and cradles Johnny's chin until Johnny has no choice but to open his eyes and look at him properly again. 

"Are you okay?" Peter asks. "Really okay? Don't pretend you are just for my sake. I'm a big boy. I'd rather know how you're really feeling than have you beat yourself up for my sake." 

Johnny laughs under his breath. He would love to be annoyed by this, to just wish that Peter would stop poking and prodding at the wounds that make things difficult between them. But, of course, this is exactly like that idealistic selflessness that had made Johnny so smitten with Spidey in the first place, isn't it? Now that he knows the truth, he's kind of shocked he didn't figure it out before. Peter has all the same lovely, enviable traits as Spider-Man, just without the overly dramatic, heroic flair. He's a good person through and through. A full fledged hero that'll just as soon stop a world ending bad guy as stick up for the little guy. Johnny thinks he might be falling in love all over again. 

He brushes back some of Peter's curls and leans down to kiss his forehead. His heart aches with the gentle, all consuming love he'd envied in Reed and Sue for so long. "It's a lot to process. I'm not going to pretend otherwise. It's probably going to take me a while to get used to the idea and, yeah, a part of me really hates that you kept this from me and that you're putting yourself in danger every night but I'll get used to it. I mean, it's not like I'm not sort of doing the same and flying headfirst into danger every night, isn't it?

"Not really," Peter admits. "Though I knew that when we started dating. I knew exactly what I was getting into. You... weren't." 

"No. But you only knew because someone made a decision for me at the beginning of all this that we would be public. And because everyone important to me was on this same team and we didn't really have anything to lose. If I'd been in your shoes... I don't know. Maybe I would have made all those same decisions as you." Johnny shrugs. 

"Maybe... I swear I was going to tell you eventually," he says. "I just... I guess I got too caught up in my head about it and I couldn't figure out how to do it. Nothing felt right." 

"Well, getting stabbed on the GWB and having me rescue you was definitely the most dramatic way you could have told me. It felt very Peter Parker," Johnny teases. 

Peter laughs and leans his face against Johnny's shoulder. "Yeah... thanks for saving my life, by the way. I don't think I've said that yet." 

"Anytime, Peter. I've gotten way too used to having you around. I'm not letting go of that anytime soon," Johnny promises. 

He holds Peter a little closer, as tight as he can without causing him pain, and if he's being honest with himself, it scares him how true he knows that is. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and that's a wrap on the Johnny POV shorts. the last chapter of must be fireproof will be up this week :)


End file.
